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Tweak says, "I'll be your garage band king"

Kyra Tyrell (darkestflower) wrote in awod,
@ 2010-08-06 12:47:00

Entry tags:

aksel bolton, chapter 2, kyra tyrell

a quiet ride - kyra, aksel - aug. 17
who: Kyra, Aksel
when: aug 17, morning
where: the stables, the woods
rating: R because these are Boltons
status: closed closed closed

It had been a long night, but she had sent word to her uncle asking him to join her for a ride this morning. In a nod to the uneasy court and the missing princess, she was taking Gareth's squire along with them, but Mark was no danger to anyone. It had been ages since he'd spoken a word- she was mostly sure it had been just before he did something to annoy Jemni. Just thinking of it made her sigh. She missed her cousins.

Thoughts of home took her over as the groom led her horse out toward her. Kyra took the reins with a smile and a word of thanks, and stroked the creature. It was a gift from Baelor for her last nameday- a gorgeous white mare. The pale leather saddle on her back was set with intricately tooled silver that shone in the morning sun, and Kyra's smile brightened at the sight of it. A gift from Dristan for her wedding, she always insisted it come with her, even though she generally chose less ornate saddlery for everyday use. But today she was tired, and she wanted reminders of home. It also might please her uncle to see it and know that she had not forgotten the North- although she didn't think that was a doubt likely to crop up in Aksel's mind.

Especially not when he saw the surprise she had for him.

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manofnosecrets
2010-08-07 09:56 pm UTC (link)

Aksel smiled as he rounded the corner. More than a year since he'd seen Kyra last, and now she seemed somewhat drawn, her jaw set more sharply than before, a new tension in the pull of her shoulders. But her eyes were relaxed, with the old dangerous glittering.

He greeted her with a brief and avuncular hug. "Dear niece," he said fondly. "You look radiant as ever. So the Tyrells are treating you well?" It was not a question. "We've all missed you, back in the Dreadfort." He gave an absent smile to the groom who walked over his big gray gelding, noting the tooled saddle on Kyra's horse as they prepared to mount. He nodded vaguely toward it. "I left Dristan, but Jemni's come down with me. Jorelle too. I'd suggest you visit, but they left for another hunting trip a few days ago." A corner of his mouth tweaked up. "Jemni had half a mind to stay for the tourney. But the game is so very rich around here...of course they left in the end." And that was all he could say until they were safely out in the countryside. For once, even Aksel was finding it hard to wait. And likely she has something to tell me too, or she would have waited until I sought her out. She was with Paegon when he died, Aksel had heard, and then she'd been lost for days in the turmoil afterward--something must have happened then. But the Dreadfort was a long way by crow, and Aksel had not dared make the trip south in person to find out. Too many Starks, and risen too high.

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darkestflower
2010-08-08 01:28 am UTC (link)

"Good morrow, uncle!" She returned his hug, beaming brightly at the sight of him. "I have missed you- all of you- so very much. Truly, you have no idea." A hunting expedition? She didn't bother to hide the flicker of disappointment in her eyes at being left out. But she knew her place was here. Especially now. Oh, she had so much to tell him...

"Hopefully they will find their quarry," she said as they mounted. "And quickly. It would be lovely to see them both again... How is Dristan? It's been so very long. I sometimes worry I'll forget what you all look like." Pleasant chatter, to cover their exit as they rode out of the gates. She kept talking about nothing just because the excitement of what she wanted to say was about to make her explode. Aksel was going to be so very entertained...

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manofnosecrets
2010-08-08 05:37 am UTC (link)

"I'm sure they will. They are on the lookout for anything that catches their fancy, really, and I don't expect they'll be gone too long. We've heard rumblings of a hart as pale as winter in these woods, and while I doubt they'd find it straightaway, they'll track news of it, and take what else comes as they go. Dristan's well. He makes a scrupulous lord, and the Dreadfort gets along quite well in my absence." Scrupulous enough to make a saddle of human skin. Impressive. But unseemly, outside of home. If it was recognized... He'd have to have a few words with his heir when he returned. Kyra was blameless for wearing it out, though. It would probably look even more suspicious if the thing remained unused, in pristine condition.

He listened to Kyra's stream of talk--much of it meaningless, but a few bits of interest here and there--as they passed first the keep, then the city. Finally, the countryside stretched gold and open around them, the road quiet and only the thinnest scattering of people across some of the fields. He cast the squire behind them a look, but Kyra trusted him, and the boy was Gareth's anyway. He could feel his niece's excitement beside him. "Now, Kyra?" He smiled and waited.

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darkestflower
2010-08-09 06:49 pm UTC (link)

She breathed easier once they passed the town and entered the countryside. Kyra looked up at the sun overhead and her smile was just as bright as she turned to her uncle. "Oh, my lord, you'll never guess the news I have! A few days ago- the day of the tourney actually- a maid from Summerhall came to ask me about employment. She knew I was one short, which sadly enough is true. I spoke with her and would you believe it she blushed anytime Baelor came up? But more than that, she was scared out of her wits. She was desperate and she really thought my silly, gallant husband was going to protect her because she was in love with him."

Kyra reined her horse to walk closer to Aksel's, so their legs were almost touching. "I told him she'd come to see me, and I realized at once he recognized her name, and he hadn't planned on her coming with us. He's very nice about not sleeping with my servants." She laughed, as if it was a joke, which to her it was.

"So I was curious about why she was so intent on getting away from this place. She's a commonborn girl, and she's lived here all her life." Kyra liked people, and liked studying them, watching them. They made her curious, and she had found it was more than entertainment- it was useful. "I found her and I asked, but she wasn't very cooperative." She shook her head at the foolishness.

"It took quite a bit of effort, but I finally got her to... open up. And then I was sure she was lying at first but it's too fantastic to be a lie." Kyra's eyes sparkled and she giggled. "It's the most fantastic thing I've ever heard- the best jest in the world- one of the junior maesters Selester brought with us- still training, I think- convinced her to to slip a couple shirts into the king's trunks... with Baelor's help" she added the last in a whisper.

"It must be poison. That's the only thing I can think of. Unfortunately the girl died, but she wasn't much help anyway aside from telling me that she'd done as they asked. Still: can you imagine?"

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manofnosecrets
2010-08-09 10:41 pm UTC (link)

He noticed as Kyra moved her mount closer. Still arch and wicked and full of life. Aksel focused deliberately on what she was saying instead. He rolled the reins over in his fingers, glad for her levity--it meant that she still trusted herself around him, which was good, and that she still enjoyed her work, which was even better. "A finer jest is what we have before us here. Kyra, you've done exceedingly well," he said with a long, approving smile. "You do me proud. What a fine Lady Tyrell you'll make, someday."

"If your wilting flower and the Citadel both had a hand in this, it surely ties back to Selester himself at some point. And that one's always liked me too much by half; for a man of his intelligence he ought to suspect us more." He nodded to himself. "How is he to you, Kyra?" he asked abruptly, fixing her with a sharp look. "Does he give you reason to think he sees past the warmth we feed him? Pity that the girl is lost... She must not be missed; no one else can know of this. We may need to use it to tie back some roses, soon.

"I do hear Jaehaerys takes poorly to attempts on his life. Has it already been found? Or could it--" he paused. "No, but they were shirts, your maid was sure, and not gowns, or anything else...?"

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darkestflower
2010-08-10 01:44 am UTC (link)

Kyra beamed at the praise. "Thank you, uncle. I should like to try... but I would rather be home. Highgarden is quite fun, I just... miss you, and the others."

She wasn't sure how to answer her uncle on the subject of her goodfather. That was a bit awkward even for her. "He is kind, and quite thoughtful... he is a suspicious man, though, by nature. Still I don't think he's entirely immune to a bit of warmth." Especially if it was naked and sharing his bed...

"She said shirts, and I am certain she only had access to the king's rooms, though who really tells one maid from another? She never mentioned any of the other dragons, though. Just the king. But surely he'd be sick by now?"

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manofnosecrets
2010-08-11 07:21 am UTC (link)

"Oh, my Kyra." Aksel smiled sadly and shook his head. "It is not fair for you. Others may marry and become their husband's family fully, but you are a better breed--and yet you are still needed here, and must act the part... I am sorry. I'd thought that having Gareth with you some of the time would ease the strain, as it were, but..." He looked intently at her. "It might be some time, sweet child, before things will be as before. Even with the hunt so promising as now. You realize that you might--that even if all goes as planned, you might still be needed in Highgarden? You are my truest heir, Kyra, but it would not have been to anyone's advantage to keep you in the North. ...Though I could surely see about sending your cousins to you, from time to time."

He heard the hesitation in her voice before she answered him about Lord Tyrell, but did not press her. "That is good. Selester is like that poisoned honey they eke from his lands. I needn't warn you not to trust him, nor that he must not suspect you overmuch. As for the king..." Aksel let his eyes rest blankly on the distant hills of Highgarden. "That is the puzzle of it, though. I'm sure you saw Princess Elia absent yesterday from both tourney and feast--I think her hardly one for shirking social duties if the king is as upset as he seemed. To be sure she is wilful, with her sudden jaunts across the sea, but she is not stupid--and now, during her friend and rival's tourney, is a very poor time to disappear. If she were a target or a casualty, it might make sense. Highgarden and Dorne still brim with tamped-down resentment. But the king..."

He stared ahead, brow furrowed. "I do not like to think of what this realm will do if Jaehaerys dies. Most likely we will be ruled again by suspicious, inexplicable Starks, while one canny old Tyrell pulls strings from behind."

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darkestflower
2010-08-14 01:12 am UTC (link)

Kyra sighed. "Gareth does help. It's really not so bad being in Highgarden, just very dull. Keeping ahead of Selester is a good game, but we always had so many better ones at home. You spoiled me." She grinned.

Her eyes brightened a bit as he mentioned her cousins. "Only if they are not needed. Or if you're wanting to punish them- I'm pretty sure Jemni would be suitably miserable." Kyra laughed. "I know I'm needed where I am, and that's more comfort than any of them would have if they were to stay with me. No, it's better to keep them where they are needed."

She frowned as he spoke of the princess. "That's what I thought as well... but I'm sure the wench was for the king's rooms. So is there more than one plot afoot, perhaps? Use one girl for one part, and some other cats paw for the other? Only, to be truthful, Baelor mustn't know of that other part because he'd never have managed to keep it all straight. He's brilliant with a sword but at something like this he'd be lost.

"If William Stark were king in truth what a grand game that would be. The Lannisters might press their claim this time, and if they got Dorne to join them... the Tullys will stay with the Starks but the Arryns and Baratheons might be moved...?" And in all the chaos, much could be moved about and overlooked.

On the other hand, there was the matter of checks and balances. There was little good negotiating with an enemy who had no reason to fear. "But Selester would be insufferably smug if he got to try his hand on Lord Stark's strings, and the Citadel..." Kyra made a face. "They're wretched fools in love with their own self-proclaimed importance." And they kept getting in her way. There was that too.

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